Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Deep into the wild and thick forests at Waa Waa, an unruly and almost untamed part of East Hawaii. Even the roadway to this wilderness is pock-marked with deep potholes, water filled ponds collect everywhere and make it almost impossible to move along the muddy dirt road especially after a heavy rain.

It feels very magical here, like time has stood still for a very long time and you can almost imagine dinosaurs from a very long time ago actually living in this Jurassic Park like zone, even though that only happens in movies.

Amazing plants abound and grow way up in the tree canopy including this wild birds nest fern (Asplenium nidus), the leaves growing over five to six feet in length alone. I wish some were closer to the ground for me to bring back a plant for my garden, but these plants live way up in the trees hard for the plant collectors to reach.

Here is a longer shot of the fern high above the forest canopy and magically

it up by the shaft of light illuminating its beautiful leaves.

Large limbs or aerial roots drape from these large trees and are very solid as you can see

from a friend swinging here to test the strong roots.

Eventually we make it to the clearing at the end were deafening sounds of the ocean crashing

can be heard…we see the huge waves battering the coastline and throwing huge boulders onto the rough shoreline. I took a shot of this imaginary piece symbol with the two rocks lit up the waves in the background.

This huge arch at the end of the rocky beach is the highlight of the hike, the waves are fierce and hurling huge sprays along the shoreline.

This was a wonderful and short hike, I’m glad this area is rarely traveled except for those who live in this area.

3 comments:

Hi Noel, looks like you're back to blogging again. I love going to areas like that too, i bet you found a lot of small interesting things as well. Just like when we went to see the Sinarapan in Lake Bato, Camarines Sur (previous post), i was able to get birds' nest ferns from tree trunks which are now big in our garden. That shore after the forest looks scary. Now i remember doing what your friend did 'Tarzan' swing when we did the circle island bus in Oahu and dismounted at the North part.

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Aloha

Living in East Hawaii on the Big Island, I am amazed by the multitude of new plant genera that I've started to discover and become addicted to. Come and explore with me in finding new amazing plants, discover the variegated and colorful, rare specimens, developing my garden, garden design, learning about sustainability and just doing the naughty things that a plant fanatic typically won't do in public :)

About Me

Writer, photographer, artist, food fanatic and wanderer,I love to visit and discover new places, exotic food and interesting people along my travels. I love to travel abroad and share new stories and images of my visits, food discoveries, culture/historic tours and trying something new and worth sharing. My photography and writing is a big part of the joy and creative process.
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